This invention relates to sampling the aromas of products, and more particularly to methods that enable consumers to experience the aromas of products prior to making purchasing decisions and to aroma-based methods that enable purchasers to determine if products have reached certain states, for example, to determine if a product has spoiled.
Consumers are saturated with advertising for products from television, radio, the print media, and store displays. Unfortunately, the vast bulk of this advertising has been directed at consumer""s visual and auditory senses, thus creating a wall of visual and auditory background xe2x80x9cnoisexe2x80x9d from which it is difficult to make any product stand out. Aside from special circumstances, few attempts are made to direct advertising at consumer""s senses of touch, smell, and taste.
This problem was particularly significant in the perfume industry, where the appeal of perfumes is limited almost exclusively to the sense of smell. Great efforts have been expended in developing unique visual images to sell perfume. Advances in packaging technology created a revolution in this industry by permitting samples of perfumes to be distributed in the print media through microencapsulation and other techniques. Further development and application of aroma distribution technologies to other areas have, however, been limited. This may be due to the unique characteristics of perfume as a product, i.e., it is sold purely on the basis of smell and xe2x80x9cimage,xe2x80x9d and samples of the product can be directly encapsulated for distribution (the samples do not spoil or otherwise present an obvious health hazard).
In some industries, such as the food industry,.the focus on the visual and auditory senses may have resulted from packaging, security, and hygiene concerns as discussed below. In earlier eras, consumers may have been able to enter marketplaces or bakeries and directly experience food samples with all five of their senses. Aside from limited and very costly (to the advertiser) free sample kiosks in some stores, and the fruits/vegetables counters, it is rarely possible for modern consumers to experience many food products with more than their visual senses prior to purchase.
Packaging concerns are driven by both manufacturing efficiency and consumer convenience considerations, and are closely related to security and hygiene concerns. From the efficiency point of view, it is often desirable to package food in relatively small, uniform units that can survive the distribution chain with a high degree of quality control. It is often desirable to package food in an unfinished state since certain bulky ingredients (such as water) may be removed, and the shelf life of the product may be extended. Consumer convenience is also enhanced because of the availability of food ingredients in pre-measured quantities and of uniform quality.
Security and hygiene concerns are different aspects of the same problem, i.e., preventing foreign substances, whether poisons, dirt, or biological materials, from contaminating food. Sealed and secured packaging effectively prevents food from contamination, but it also prevents direct experience of the product through the senses before purchase.
As mentioned above, the packaging of food and other products often limits the advertiser of those products to a few sensory modalities. At the same time more and more manufacturers, with more and more products, are fighting for shelf space at stores. As an example of the interplay of these considerations, a typical supermarket may stock 60 different varieties of coffee. Many manufacturers offer multiple varieties of coffee under their same brands. Coffee must also remain in airtight packing since it rapidly loses freshness when exposed to the atmosphere. Traditionally, coffee has been advertised through visual/audio media. Yet, the appeal of coffee and the characteristics that distinguish the varieties lie almost exclusively in the senses of taste and smell. Manufacturers are thus in the difficult situation of attempting to distinguish, on the basis of visual/audio advertising, scores of varieties of a product that is purchased for its taste and smell. Additional advertising options are needed to distinguish products and to better align the methods used to advertise the product (such as visual images) with the characteristics that motivate consumer purchasing decisions (such as taste/smell).
The inability to effectively distinguish products through the use of the usual visual/audio techniques becomes particularly acute in market situations where the cost to consumers of making a mistake is high. This situation exists in many developing countries where markets may be flooded with goods from industrialized nations but average consumer income is low. A high income consumer may be able to purchase products in order to sample them. A low income consumer may have no choice but to fully consume any product that is purchased. Methods are needed that enable consumers to make better informed product selections prior to purchase.
Many products change as they age, and some products develop a unique smell when they are no longer suitable for use. For example, it is well known that meat that develops a certain odor should not be consumed. Unfortunately, smells are difficult to describe in words, and people have generally relied on instinct and personal experience to indicate when the smell of a product suggests that it has xe2x80x9cgone bad.xe2x80x9d When people have no base of experience with a product, they may inadvertently use the product after it has gone bad because they did not know the meaning of the product""s smell. A method is needed that enables consumers to learn the smell of products that are no longer suitable for use.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for consumers of a product to sample one or more aromas of the product prior to purchasing the product.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for users of a product to determine if the product has aged or otherwise transitioned into a state in which the product is no longer suitable for use.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for sampling an aroma of a finished consumer product wherein the consumer product has a finished state and an unfinished state.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for sampling an aroma of a consumer product where the consumer product includes a plurality of aromas.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for sampling an aroma bouquet of a consumer product.
An object of the invention is to provide a method for determining the state of a product.
A preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, where a consumer product has a finished state and an unfinished state and is offered for sale to consumers in the unfinished state, includes the steps of characterizing an aroma of a finished state of the product, synthesizing the aroma in response to the characterization, and associating the synthesized aroma with the consumer product.
An alternative preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, where a consumer product has a plurality of aromas, includes the steps of characterizing a selected aroma of the product, synthesizing the selected aroma in response to the characterization, and associating the synthesized aroma with the consumer product.
An alternative preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, where a consumer product has an aroma bouquet that includes a plurality of aromas, includes the steps of characterizing the aroma bouquet, characterizing a selected aroma of the plurality of aromas, synthesizing the aroma bouquet in response to the characterization of the aroma bouquet, synthesizing the selected aroma in response to the characterization of the aroma, intensifying the synthesized aroma, and associating the synthesized aroma bouquet and the intensified synthesized aroma with the consumer product.
An alternative preferred embodiment of a method of the present invention, as broadly described herein, where a product has a first state wherein an aroma is readily detected and a second state wherein the aroma is not readily detected, includes the steps of characterizing the aroma, synthesizing the aroma in response to the characterization, and associating the synthesized aroma with the product.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention are set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part are obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may also be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly set out in the appended claims.